History DisproportionateRetribution / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/{{Dazzler}}'': In issue #16, ComicBook/TheEnchantress wanted Dazzler dead for offending the gods by ''having a better singing voice than her''. (Both of them auditioned for a part, and the manager, though obviously infatuated with Amora, reluctantly admitted that Allison [[SecondPlaceIsForLosers was slightly better]].) Her first assault against Allison to tap into a dimensional rift in order to kill her rival in the middle of her performance via RapidAging, only to attract the attention of New York's other heroes and was defeated (and as a result, ruining what was her true plan, using the rift to gain ultimate power). She then tried to get the Asgardians to punish Dazzler, kidnapping her and dragging her to Asgard and demanded a mock duel, which she [[DuelToTheDeath tried to turn into a real one.]] Fortunately, Dazzler was saved by Odin's untimely arrival; he agreed that Dazzler ''does'' have a better singing voice, ordered Enchantress to drop the matter, then sent the girl home with the promise that the Asgardians would not hurt her.

* Examples from ''ComicBook/AstroCity'':

* ''ComicBook/BatmanBlackAndWhite'': The serial killer in "Petty Crimes" murders people gruesomely for offenses like ignoring the ExpressLaneLimit, not cleaning up after their dog, and driving slowly in the fast lane of a motorway.
* Bane from ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}: ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}''
-->'''Batman:''' You'd kill just to "rule" this city?
-->'''Bane:''' I'd kill for anything. I'd kill to silence a grating voice. To darken the light of the eyes that dared to look at me.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanVsBigbyAWolfInGotham'': When Bigby goes to the Gotham City Executive Exchange, he tries to get information about a book from someone. When the guy he's talking to insults Bigby's odour, Bigby grabs him by the collar of his shirt and shouts "Manners!". In response, everyone in the Executive Exchange immediately descends upon Bigby to beat him to within an inch of his life. Some person even spell it out for him.
-->'''Random Man:''' Mister, you broke the one '''unbreakable''' rule! '''No one''' causes any crap at the Executive Exchange!
-->'''Random Woman:''' At least nobody lives to do it '''twice!'''
* [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/9/95848/1790556-jokersasylum_penguin_pg012_13.jpg One]] of the ''[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Tales of Arkham]]'' comics features the Penguin, and uses this to explain why a criminal like him belongs in Arkham despite his relatively sane methods and motives. In the story, after a chef is seen laughing in the Penguin's general direction while he is eating dinner: "Maybe it was just a coincidence that the chef laughed while looking in the Penguin's direction. Maybe he just happened to think of something funny, some joke he'd heard the other day, while glancing around the room. Maybe there was nothing malicious about it at all. But in the end... it really didn't matter. And so they ate their dinner, and enjoyed their evening, and the Penguin never said a word about the chef who'd laughed. But a few days later, that building had a new owner, and the restaurant was forced to close, its employees all fired. And the day after losing his job, the chef found that his girlfriend had been suddenly deported to Romania and his best friend arrested for child pornography despite his insistence that he was framed. The day after that, a new tenant moved in next door and begin blasting their stereo at all hours of the day and night. The landlord stopped taking his calls. The church he attended was closed for fumigation, after a bizarre infestation of killer bees. The park where he liked to sit and read was annexed and bulldozed. And then the chef, who was a recovering alcoholic, woke one morning to find that a 24 hour liquor store had opened across the street from his apartment. Less than two months after he'd crossed paths with the Penguin, a night janitor found the chef in a bus station restroom. He'd hanged himself."
** Penguin does it again in his miniseries ''ComicBook/PenguinPainAndPrejudice''. At a party, a guy bumps into him and starts to call him a fatass before he sees who it is and begs for forgiveness. Penguin responds by having him fired from his job, burning down his apartment, cutting the brakes on his parent's car and having his girlfriend infected with what's heavily implied to be [=AIDs=].
** Of course, while it in no way excuses these horrid actions, [[FridgeBrilliance this fits the Penguin's character perfectly.]] He ''hates'' being insulted, mostly because [[FreudianExcuse being insulted by his peers when he was young]] is what drove him to his StartOfDarkness in the first place.
* Season 8 of ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' gives us Monroe. Disagree with your former teachers on what it means to be a werewolf? That's okay. Just slaughter most of the Buddhist monks of the monastery they live in.
* Abundant in various ComicBook/ChickTracts, mostly by God Himself. However, one that stands out is [[http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1033/1033_01.asp "Fairy Tales?"]] In this Tract, a young boy goes on a killing spree, burns down his school, and is sent to juvenile hall. After his release from juvie, he becomes one of the FBI's top ten most wanted who is eventually arrested, tried, executed, and sent to Hell for his crimes. What exactly caused all of this to happen to him? [[spoiler:The fact that Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Easter Bunny aren't real.]]
* In ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'', Joker punches Harley Quinn in the face. He claims that it is because she had hubris on her face.
* ''ComicBook/TheKingpin'' likes to think of himself as an intelligent man who doesn't let emotions get the best of him but in truth, he'll overact massively to mild slights. An underling attempts to point out how a vendetta against Daredevil is bad for business and the Kingpin has his legs broken. An innocent waiter makes the mistake of trying to give the Kingpin a check at a dinner and Fisk orders the poor guy's hand wrecked beyond repair. That's not to mention the slews of gang mooks killed simply for delivering bad news.
* ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' was quite bad for this, at the start. In the third story Elisabeth Gay, his UnwittingPawn and first lover (with whom he was about to break up) accidentally outed his secret identity to the police, so what did he do her after narrowly escaping a much deserved execution? Why, he waited for her to recover from nearly going crazy out of fear of what he'd do to her and fall in love with a doctor before ''driving her completely mad by appearing from nowhere in her room before faking the beheading of her fiancee a few days before the wedding''. [[KickTheDog And he did it because she had once told him it was a]] FateWorseThanDeath. And then made sure to drive her ''deeper'' into madness. Thankfully, modern day Diabolik has mellowed somewhat, and doesn't do such things anymore... [[PragmaticVillainy Because of what he experienced when]] [[TheDogBitesBack Elisabeth recovered enough to leave the asylum and managed to capture him]].
* WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck can be one mean avian. Even being the universe's ButtMonkey doesn't exactly justify this. Once he also gave a woman a black eye because she gave him a gag gift (she didn't know it would throw a pie at him). One could even go so far as to call him Donald Dick.
** Even in his 'superhero' version of some Italian stories, [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures Paperinik]] the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Devilish Avenger]], he's quite mean. His first story as Paperinik in a nutshell: Scrooge offered him an underpaid job as a fanner and insulted him for kicking a ludicrously overpaid job as a dog-sitter that went to Gladstone, and Donald as Paperinik stole Scrooge's money-filled mattress ''while he slept on it'' and framed Gladstone for it (the destruction of a manor that Gladstone won at a lottery wasn't part of it: Gladstone did it on his own by lighting a candle with explosive hidden in it that Paperinik left around). While these almost murderous tendencies of Paperinik have been toned down and he now tends to reserve them for [[AssholeVictim people who actually deserve the treatment]], he still loves putting his quarry in HumiliationConga, like that time he convinced Gladstone he had ''lost his luck due a fake curse launched on him by Donald''. Donald himself is the victim of disproportionate retributions far more often than he's the instigator.
** Paperinik set up a ''[[TorchesAndPitchforks lynching mob]] '''twice''''', and for rather petty offenses. The first time, it was the Beagle Boys who had decided to empty Duckburg to sack it and thus organized a marathon whose prize set him off: ''Paperinik's secret identity'' (that they didn't even know. It was just the one thing that would have convinced every single citizen but Paperinik himself to take part), only for Paperinik to detour the marathon right back in town. The second time the husbands of Duckburg, fed up with being beaten and humiliated by their wives for not measuring up to Paperinik, tried to ruin his fame as a gentleman by playing pranks dressed as him, and Paperinik reacted by having them discovered by their ''very'' pissed wives (plus Daisy. [[LaserGuidedKarma Who recognized Paperinik as Donald, guessed he was one of the pranksters and beat him up for it]]).
* In the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'', we have the inhabitants of Plain Awful, whose body features are very square. They are surprisingly affable and hospitable, with one single exception: if you possess or create a round object (body features don't count), they will punish you. At best, you'll be sentenced to forced labor until you (or your friends) will fulfill their request to make amends; at worst, they'll immediately kill you.
* In the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Comic Book series, "Prisoners of Time", [[spoiler: Adam Mitchell]] decides to get revenge on The Doctor after he was [[spoiler: kicked out of the TARDIS for bad behavior]] by teaming up with [[spoiler: The Master]], kidnapping all of The Doctor's companions and trying to force him to choose one and let the rest die.
* In the ''[[Creator/ECComics Vault of Horror]]'' story "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime," a group of children end up murdering another child by pushing him into live wire. Why? [[spoiler:He stole a girl's doll and wouldn't give it back. The local lawyer had told the kids that "robbery and kidnapping" were offenses punishable by death in the electric chair, so ...]]
* Used many times by the insane elf, Door, in the ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' New Blood stories, against his human servants including at least three boys and several men (one boy [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse whose ultimate fate is unknown]] was threatened with death for [[DisproportionateRetribution simply dropping a bowl of fruit]]).
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom's grudge against Reed Richards of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' reflects this trope. In this case, however, the yearned-for retribution is ''really'' disproportionate, in that Reed didn't even do what Doom blames him for; Doom blames Reed for causing the accident which disfigured him, whereas all Reed did was bring to Doom's attention flaws in his calculations which had the potential for disaster if they weren't fixed. Doom went ahead with the experiment anyway, and when disaster happened as Reed predicted, Doom's ego couldn't let him admit fault and that Reed, in identifying Doom's error, was smarter than him. In response, he has attempted to kill Reed and his family on numerous occasions, and at one point possessed his daughter and trapped his son in Hell.
** The disproportion is enhanced further in some tellings of this origin, which state that Doom was not even injured that seriously in the accident to start with. His injuries amounted to [[MinorInjuryOverreaction a small scar on his cheek]], but Doom's vanity could not tolerate even such a minor blemish. He himself caused the horrific injuries by putting on his iconic metal face mask immediately after it had been forged without ''waiting for it to cool down first''. So not only did Reed not cause the accident in the first place, he apparently had no connection with Doom's horrific injuries at all.
** In ''Books of Doom'', one of the tellings of said origin from [[UnreliableNarrator Doom's perspective]], Reed didn't even do that. He looked at Doom's notes and couldn't even make sense of them because Doom was blending magic and technology. He got the scar from Mephisto, the machine being designed to send him to Mephisto's realm so he could find his mother. Why he blames Reed isn't explored.
** A more recent comic revealed that Reed wasn't even responsible for Doom's accident. Ben Grimm, later the Thing, didn't like Doom's attitude, and he decided to purposefully sabotage the machine. So Doom's hatred of Reed is even more disproportionate.
** In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, Doom has even less reason to blame Reed for his problems, as he was the one who, after being ''told'' not to, reprogrammed the coordinates for the transporter due to his egotistical belief that he knew better than the man who created the machine, transforming himself into a creature of living metal. This version of Doom... just say he has issues even beyond the Reed Richards issue.
** In James Robinson's run on the book, he introduces the Quiet Man, who reasons for attacking the FF make Doom look justified and rational. He frames the Thing for murder, causes Johnny to lose his powers, has the city of New York kick the FF out of the Baxter Building, their children taken away and ultimately intends to frame Reed for launching a massive attack from another dimension. Why? Because back in college, the Quiet Man had a massive crush on Sue but never got the guts to tell her before Reed asked her out and thus is seeking revenge for Reed "stealing" a girl who had no idea this guy existed. Even Reed himself points out how incredibly stupid it is to launch an entire crusade over that.
** In Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's run, a two part story revolves around the Fantastic Four having to fight the Hulk. Why, you ask? Because Rick Jones started hanging around with the Avengers, and the Hulk came to the conclusion Rick would tell them he was Bruce Banner. Ergo, he had to '''DESTROY THE AVENGERS!''' (And yes, Rick does try to tell the Hulk he didn't, but Hulk's not in a listening mood.) The Fantastic Four just happen to stumble on to Big Green first.

* In the ''Lobo vs the Mask'' {{crossover}}, Lobo destroys about a dozen planets in anger simply to find the guy who wrote "YOU SMELL" on his bike. (Of course, he ''was'' possessed by the Mask at the time...)
* In one issue of ''Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset'', mobster Vinnie Assapunto goes on a rampage, murdering five people because they were connected to someone who had been ''telling jokes about him''.
* Delilah Hack of ''ComicBook/HackSlash'', who after witnessing her daughter being mistreated by a group of bullies, immediately proceeded to abduct, kill, and cook said bullies, before ultimately ''feeding'' them to their friends.
* ''ComicBook/HellblazerRiseAndFall'': Lucifer responds to a security guard barring him from interrogating Mr. Henderson by ripping out his kidney. When Constantine steps in and deters him with holy fire, John finds his apartment in flames.

* In ComicBook/JudgeDredd, this is pretty much how the entire legal system works, which makes a degree of sense given how much of a CrapsackWorld Mega-City One is. A cover for one issue of 2000AD played it for dark laughs, showing a young kid dressed in a bad Dredd costume - presumably, dressing that way out of hero-worship - with Dredd himself barking "Impersonating a Judge. Five years in the Juve-cubes."

* [[ComicBook/LesLegendaires The Legendaries]] suffers this from the population of their native world Alysia. After they accidentally caused a magic incident by breaking a magic stone from the ArchEnemy and accidentally turned everyone on their world into a child, the population of Alysia start hating and despising them : they are mocked, insulted, forced to hide their identities for ''five years'', considered as failures, and everyone who has connections to them (brothers, parents, former teams...) are considered as ashamed as well. While it's understandable on the first look, it become excessively ridiculous if you take account of the fact the Legendaries also saved those same people countless times from their said ArchEnemy (who was an homicidal, megalomaniac SorcerousOverlord [[TheDreaded feared in all Alysia]]), making the mere fact to have trapt everyone in child form not bad in comparison. [[UngratefulBastard The inhabitants of Alysia seems to have quickly forgotten about those heroic actions.]]
* Early on in ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', two [[HumanoidAbomination Jin en Mok]] are having a discussion in a diner. When the janitor accidentally interrupts them with his sweeping, one of the Jin gives him a coin. The janitor will be compelled to look at the coin for increasing amounts of time each day with a corresponding increase of both pain and pleasure. The Jin en Mok estimates that janitor will last about a year before the coin kills him. It's implied that the Jin does this to people all the time, just because he (it) finds it funny.
* In ''ComicBook/LukeCageNoir'', Luke examines a body for clues after being hired to investigate a murder. "The black and blue marks around her neck meant she was choked -- which is usually personal. Though I did once choke a cellmate because he ate my peanut butter."
* The very first story arc of ''ComicBook/TheMask'' features Stanley Ipkiss using the powers of the eponymous mask to wreak frequently lethal havoc on anyone who's slighted him in the past, making a deliberate effort to invoke this very trope. After a while, he starts to suspect that he's overdoing the entire revenge-thing.

* Worst things ''Literature/MaxAndMoritz'' by Creator/WilhelmBusch do: Putting gunpowder into the pipe of the teacher (OK, that's pretty harsh, but he survives.) Their punishment at the end (not by him): [[spoiler:They're killed and ground to grit in the mill.]]
* In the final DC story of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls,'' "Smart and Smarter," Mojo Jojo goes about terrorizing Townsville simply because there was nothing to watch on his DVR.
* ComicBook/TheEnchantress wanted ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} dead for offending the gods by ''having a better singing voice than her''. (Both of them auditioned for a part, and the manager, though obviously infatuated with Amora, reluctantly admitted that Allison [[SecondPlaceIsForLosers was slightly better]].) Her first assault against Allison to tap into a dimensional rift in order to kill her rival in the middle of her performance via RapidAging, only to attract the attention of New York's other heroes and was defeated (and as a result, ruining what was her true plan, using the rift to gain ultimate power). She then tried to get the Asgardians to punish Dazzler, kidnapping her and dragging her to Asgard and demanded a mock duel, which she [[DuelToTheDeath tried to turn into a real one.]] Fortunately, Dazzler was saved by Odin's untimely arrival; he agreed that Dazzler ''does'' have a better singing voice, ordered Enchantress to drop the matter, then sent the girl home with the promise that the Asgardians would not hurt her.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSentry'', Bob finds out that some Yoga instructor is pulling some moves on his wife; sometime later his alter egos, presumably, act; The Sentry saves 150.000 people from a crashing boat while The Void hurls a jet airliner into a building killing 150.000 people, Ramón the Yoga instructor was in that building.
* Thrash the Devil in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''. Your people are almost extinct thanks to horrific experiments caused by a group of Echidna scientists. You've been drilled into your head that all echidnas are evil. What do you do? Punish what's left of the echidna race that had ''nothing'' to do with those experiments by tossing all but one into an alternate dimension, possibly never returning. That one? Knuckles the Echidna.

* In ''ComicBook/SpyBoy'', even Schweitzer (who is TheBully) finds a little absurd the reaction of his father to the Class president's campaign: hire a hitman to take out both Alex and his ex-girlfriend.

* In ''ComicBook/SuperCrooks,'' the Bastard is considered the most terrifying super-villain on Earth with a story told of one guy making the mistake of trying to rip him off. Another villain might kill the guy. Another might go a step further and kill his family. The Bastard methodically tracks down and murders ''every single person'' this guy has ever been close to. Family, lovers, his drug dealer, his banker, right down to second grade classmates. ''Then'' he kills the guy.
* ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} The Adventures of Tintin]]'': The entire reason [[TheHero Tintin]] and [[BigBad Rastapopoulos]] was put at odds with each other is because the former stopped the latter from assaulting somebody. Which lead to the latter to send people to kill the former.
* In the ComicBook/{{Vampirella}} story "Into the Inferno" Granville decides to repay Pendragon's abandoning of his family by addicting Vampirella on cocaine.
* ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}''. The main character gains the resources to do whatever he wanted. As an example, he deals with the frustration of a neighbor being ''too'' cheery with... a bullet to the face. BLAM.
* Director Malcom Concord from the 2000's Weapon X series... If BUILDING A FREAKIN' CONCENTRATION CAMP for mutants, just because one scarred up your face a bit isn't disproportionate retribution, we don't know what is.
* ''ComicBook/ZipiYZape'': Sometimes, Zipi and Zape are chastised for really stupid reasons, one notably one is when Mrs. Jaimita punish them to cutting grass in the garden just because they ''didn't know how to use a flypaper''.
** And Jaimita is by far the nicest one of the parents. Pantuflo, the father, borders on the AbusiveParents trope, as he's able to punish them for things they've clearly done not deliberately just as if they've done that way, and sometimes for things [[{{Hypocrite}} he's actually the one to blame]].
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': In ''Defenders'' #16, Magneto is fighting the Defenders and Professor X when his genetically engineered reality warper Alpha turns on him and transforms him into a baby. Years later, in ''X-Men'' #112, a rejuvenated Magneto captures the X-Men -- none of whom were involved in the Defenders story in any way, but Xavier's not around -- and takes a cruel "eye for an eye" revenge on them. He locks them into chairs that not only inhibit their powers but also disrupt their neurological functioning so that physically they're at the level of toddlers even though they retain adult intelligence. He then leaves them to the care of Nanny, an android with a sickeningly sweet personality to care for them as if they were babies. ("Oh Beast, you've such marvelous silky fur. You are a joy to brush. I've an idea. Would you like bows for your hair? I'll see if I can find some.") His intention is that they will live out the rest of their lives in that state, and it is implied that they are trapped that way for several days if not weeks before escaping.
* A common theme in ''ComicBook/{{Misty}}'' -- even innocent acts could lead to a DownerEnding.

* ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' has Tony Stark flipping out after [[spoiler: Rhodey's death]], and kidnapping [[spoiler: an Inhuman precog from the Inhumans. While this is bad, he did react out of grief and rage, and their response is extreme (and may be due to the fact that a normal human embarrassed them by defeating them in combat so easily): They take away his money, expose his secrets to the world, destroy anything of value to him and blow up his tower. So basically, they went and ruined his life and his company. [[EasilyForgiven Considering their reaction when Hellion tried to kill them all for the mists killing their people]], it is interesting how they go about punishing people. Maybe Tony's actions were just more insulting.]]
** It gets worse: [[spoiler:Carol, who is opposing Tony in this war, had to beg them to stand down. [[FridgeHorror For her to do this, it means that they most likely had something even worse in mind for Tony. After all, it was revealed that Cyclops' punishment for angering the Inhumans by neutralising the mist which was sacred to them but fatal to mutants was to be instantly and publicly executed by the Inhuman royals.]] Maybe that's really why the rest of the X-Men are so afraid to have any conflict with them.]]
* ''Creator/ChaosComics'' had the VillainProtagonist ComicBook/EvilErnie. Physically and emotionally abused by his parents, one night Ernie sensed through his telepathic powers that his neighbors knew about his abuse for years, but were afraid to inform the police because his parents happened to own the business that was the number one employer in town, which was enough to turn Ernie into a serial killer. Now that a supernatural being named Lady Death has turned him into a superpowered zombie who can turn his victims into zombies too? He's out to wipe out the entire human race!
* In ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Star Wars]] ComicBook/{{Legacy}}'', [[BigBad Darth Krayt]] orders the [[FinalSolution genocide]] of the Mon Calamari species in retaliation for the theft of a prototype Star Destroyer that was being built in the shipyards above their home planet. Even some of his fellow Sith find this excessive.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'' runs on this. While Frank Castle had every right to be pissed about his family being accidentally killed by the Avengers and the X-Men, he still went overboard by indiscriminately killing every superhuman on the planet at the behest of an organization of people unintentionally harmed by superheroes who stubbornly keep on believing that the heroes harmed them on purpose. A fair number of the heroes Castle slaughtered without remorse had loved ones of their own and did their best to avoid civilian casualties.
* Speaking of ol' Frank, way back when he was still part of Daredevil and Spidey's rogues gallery, he went about killing people for the heinous crimes of... littering, and running red lights to get away from the psycho killing people for littering. When Marvel decided to make the Punisher an anti-hero, this was retconned as Frank having been drugged by another villain, and he'd got clean while in prison.

* ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'': The reason why Magneto caused the apocalypse was to get back at the Ultimates for the deaths of his children. Bit of an overreaction there, dude. It should further be noted that he was horribly, horribly abusive to said children, to the point of crippling his son at one point just for siding against him, further adding to his hypocrisy.

* Bane from ''Franchise/{{Batman}}: ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}''

* [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/9/95848/1790556-jokersasylum_penguin_pg012_13.jpg One]] of the ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Tales of Arkham]]'' comics features the Penguin, and uses this to explain why a criminal like him belongs in Arkham despite his relatively sane methods and motives. In the story, after a chef is seen laughing in the Penguin's general direction while he is eating dinner: "Maybe it was just a coincidence that the chef laughed while looking in the Penguin's direction. Maybe he just happened to think of something funny, some joke he'd heard the other day, while glancing around the room. Maybe there was nothing malicious about it at all. But in the end... it really didn't matter. And so they ate their dinner, and enjoyed their evening, and the Penguin never said a word about the chef who'd laughed. But a few days later, that building had a new owner, and the restaurant was forced to close, its employees all fired. And the day after losing his job, the chef found that his girlfriend had been suddenly deported to Romania and his best friend arrested for child pornography despite his insistence that he was framed. The day after that, a new tenant moved in next door and begin blasting their stereo at all hours of the day and night. The landlord stopped taking his calls. The church he attended was closed for fumigation, after a bizarre infestation of killer bees. The park where he liked to sit and read was annexed and bulldozed. And then the chef, who was a recovering alcoholic, woke one morning to find that a 24 hour liquor store had opened across the street from his apartment. Less than two months after he'd crossed paths with the Penguin, a night janitor found the chef in a bus station restroom. He'd hanged himself."

* Franchise/SpiderMan is a frequent victim of this, as his opponents' goals shift from "get money/recognition/cured" to "revenge on Spider-Man" as he stops them. Justified in that nearly all of them are selfish, arrogant, unhinged bastards as foils to Spider-Man.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In "Ectoplasmic Death" ComicBook/{{Etta|Candy}} decks Oscar because she thinks he's going to try to take her candy, that ''he just gifted to her''. Though their dialog makes it clear he usually tries to eat as much as possible of the sweets he buys her her violent reaction is pretty extreme.